Broken Trusts
by Mine6Chan
Summary: Loki might be the super-villain of the century, but that does not mean it's okay for those closest to him to betray him. Tony/Loki
1. Chapter 1

I haven't read the comics. I got hooked after seeing the Avengers movie and then re-watching 'Thor' as I feel hopelessly in love with Loki. After a quick thought, I immediately decided that Loki would go best with Tony Stark (I love Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, freaking awesome!). Then I decided that Loki isn't actually evil. He does what he does in 'Thor' because he knows his brother isn't ready to take over the throne, and then because he's been completely and utterly crushed by the revelation of his Jotun origin and driven into madness.

So, I think that Loki deserves a break and some proper loving. But, unfortunately, I'm not going to make it easy for him. I might write a pure fluff and feel-good story later on, but not this time. And I needed to get this idea down on paper and out of my mind. I still have school work, damnit!

And also, any pointers, tips, and ideas you guys might have will be deeply appreciated. I'm kind of treading on unknown territory here and feeling like I shouldn't.

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**Chapter 1: (Un)Known Feelings**

The lights are out in the Stark mansion. Not a rare occurrence but Loki still knows this is where he'll find Tony Stark. Probably down in the garage, tinkering on whatever invention he's come up with, and neglecting to eat and sleep properly.

It's easy for him to find the multi-billionaire. A thought is all it takes and Loki can magically appear not too far from his location. A soft pressure in his chest usually follows those thoughts. Loki tries not to think about that.

It's strange, bizarre even, this 'thing' they have. The Norse god isn't even sure how it all started. A random encounter at a hotel bar and a night he's sure he'll remember for a long, long time. And he's not regretting it. In fact, since the start of this… 'relationship', something's been changing inside of him. The rage and madness that before entirely clouded his senses have started shimmer. He has these moments, brief ones when he's in that state between sleep and awake, where feelings guilt and grief overwhelm him and the only thing he can do is cry.

Loki doesn't think about those moments. He pushes them away, forgets about them, denies their existence. But subconsciously Loki can't help but think this somehow has something to do with the destruction of the sphere he was using. His eyes are green once again.

Tony Stark, amazingly enough, makes him feel calmer. The storm of inner turmoil dimers down to a manageable breeze in his presence. And Loki is starting to wonder what it can be. An icy grip clutches his heart at the thought of ending it all and going back to how things where before. No, he doesn't want that. But he wonders what the alternative could be.

They never talk about what they're doing. Loki just shows up whenever he feels like it and 'stuff' happens. But lately he's been lingering, not disappearing right after they're done without so much as a word between them. Now, he stays in Stark's arms, kisses him afterwards, gets cleaned up and dressed leisurely. And sometimes, they talk. They exchange pleasantries, inquire casually about each other's business, and Loki's finding he wants to know more, wants to say more.

He's been standing on a rooftop some distance away for a couple of hours now. He sent a message earlier, telling him 'not to wait up for him', that he'd 'let himself in'. It's the first time he's announced his arrival. Though he sent that message over 12 hours ago. Loki shakes his head. There's no point in waiting even longer. He disappears and reappears in Stark's living room, no longer in full body armor. Instead, he's dressed in black pants, and a dark green v-cut t-shirt. He shoves his hands in his pockets and makes his way downstairs. His bare feet make no noise against the cold steps, his features cast in shadows from the light from the garage. Until Loki wishes it, Tony will remain oblivious to his presence, but the God of Mischief doesn't feel the need for schemes and tricks when dealing with Stark and makes his presence known to JARVIS when he reaches the soundproof glass door. The program lets its creator know of his presence and Tony's head snaps up. His eyes are wide and there's a look of surprise on his face as he stares at the god, frozen and bent over his bench where the start of a new device lays. The look changes into a grin after a while, Loki doesn't give it much thought, and lips move as Stark tells JARVIS to open the door.

"Hey," the god says.

Loki pushes his way in with one hand, the other still in his pocket. Tony meets him halfway. They don't say anything else and stand close but not touching. Loki looks him over with a neutral face, one that gives nothing away. He can see clear lines of exhaustion in the other man's face and worry gnaws at the outer edges of his mind. There's apprehension in Stark's eyes and Loki wonders about the cause of it.

Tony shakes his head as if ridding himself of unwanted thoughts and steps in close to pull Loki into a kiss. It's not one of their usual hello kisses. This one is slow and deep, more like one of the rare few they've shared after their throes of passion and lust. Tony drinks from Loki's lips, cradles his head in his hands, and memorizes the contours and taste of those lips with his tongue for what feels like an eternity before dwelling into his mouth to trace every nook and cranny he can find. Loki returns the favor eagerly, his hands gripping the sides of Tony's shirt tightly. They take their time. Enjoy being together.

When the need for air becomes too strong they pull back, but they don't let go of each other. Tony smiles, smirks, grins. Call it whatever you like. Loki doesn't return the smile, but feels he might want to. But then Tony pulls back, his chance is lost, and turns his back to Loki to return to his workbench.

"Make yourself comfortable." Tony says and starts shutting things down.

Loki nods, tells him he'll wait upstairs, and disappears in the blink of an eye only to reappear in the kitchen. He's not in a hurry, unlike so many of the other times he's visited Stark, and lets Tony finish his work. He's confident enough in himself to know Tony won't take too long, but just in case, he takes a look at the timer on the microwave and decides to give the man 15 minutes, tops.

Loki grabs an apple from the fridge, courtesy of Ms. Potts but a wasted effort in an attempt to get Tony to eat, and he decides to at least not let one fruit go to waste. He makes his way upstairs, towards Stark's bedroom and he feels… _happy_, for the first time in a very long long time.

He's still the God of Mischief, a Trickster, and can't help but cause a prank or two around the house with his magic waiting to be uncovered someday. And Loki refuses to think that he does it because he wants to leave Tony something to remember him by when he's not there.

Ten minutes go by and Loki lies down on the bed with his legs bent at the knees at the end of the bed. He's feeling tired, and a bit nauseous now that he thinks about it. He turns to lie on his side and clenches his eyes shut as the room suddenly dips to the side and starts spinning.

_What?_

His mouth drops open and he starts to gulp in air. His chest feels heavy on the inside and his breaths weighted down. He turns on his stomach and pushes himself up on one elbow. But his head is too heavy for him to hold up and the movements cause him to swallow several times as bile rises to his mouth. He's afraid he might throw up at any moment.

_What's happening?_

His strength leaves him and Loki crashes into the mattress. He groans in misery and pain as he becomes too weak to move and his eyes open wide in panic. Loki's sweating, his shirt and pants clinging uncomfortably to his skin and he feels like he's burning up from the inside. He wants to scream, to cry out, but he's too miserably weak for that. Terror grips his heart as he thinks about Stark in the same state he's in and doubles the effort at trying to move.

The bedroom door bursts open in a loud and painful boom that has Loki clenching his teeth in pain and suddenly the room is flooded with people clad in dark uniforms and facemasks. Loki draws in a sharp gasp when he notices Thor enter the room.

"Lay still, brother. Do not fight. It will be over soon."

The God of Thunder's voice is muffled by the mask but Loki hears him clearly enough and flinches under the touch of the giant man's hand.

_Stark?_

Someone forces his arms behind his back, presses a knee into the small of his back, and Loki throws his head back, his mouth open in a silent scream of pain as every nerve in his body lights up in fire at the touch.

_Stark._

He tries to fight. Panic clouds his senses. He tries to use his magic but finds to his utter horror and despair that there is none.

_Tony._

He's empty. There's nothing in him and Loki feels like he's falling through the Bifrost again. His mind goes numb, his heart freezes. He's _scared_.

Black Widow and Hawkeye are standing ready with their weapons drawn and pointed at him. Loki can't see but he imagines the look of satisfaction on their faces anyway and it scares him. He turns his head to the side and catches white, blue, and red in the reflection of the window. It's Captain America with the aid from Thor that's on his back.

_TONY!_

There's a flash of red and gold in the window and then the Iron Man is standing in his line of sight. An iron clad arm reaches down and turns his head. Loki feels the sting of the needle as if it were a burning blade and the last thing he sees before he falls into darkness is a red and golden mask.


	2. Chapter 2

I have to admit that because I've only gotten 2 reviews, for a moment there I thought about not continuing this at all. But then I have gotten quite a lot of notices on people putting this story on their 'favorite story' or 'story alert' lists. So why not? Besides, I have a second chapter and I need to get it out of my head 'cause it's interrupting with my daily life. Damn my over imaginative mind!

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**Chapter 2: (Un)Spoken Feelings**

"Sir, Thor is at the front door. Shall I let him in?"

Tony looks up from the various parts and pieces of his suit. He could let the machines clean it, but he finds comfort in doing it on his own.

"Ah, yeah. Sure... Let him in."

"Very well, sir."

He doesn't go back to his work. Instead he gets up and heads over to the fridge he keeps down in the garage and grabs a beer. On second thought, he grabs two.

Tony hasn't spoken to the god since they managed to capture Loki almost a month ago, and to be honest, Tony's actually been kind of avoiding him. He'd never admit it out loud, but Tony was always a bit worried about talking to the guy who's younger brother he was screwing. He still is. Worried, that is. But he figures that by now, even though Thor might still be bothered by it that he at least won't be bothered enough to want to hurt Tony. Or, you know, he hopes.

There's also another reason why he's been avoiding Thor. Thinking about the God of Thunder will undoubtedly lead to thoughts about other Norse gods he might personally know, and Tony knows only one other.

Loki is a confusing subject for Tony. Sure he was deceiving the guy (or hoping he was) for about two months while Nick Fury and his people were figuring out how to take the guy out. And he knows that Loki is a man (god) who has done much evil and should be locked away and have the key thrown away. Loki is evil and his job as an Avenger is to stop him, but somewhere along the way feelings got mixed into the potion. And we're not talking about you're-evil-I'm-the-good-guy-and-therefore-have-to-stop-you-at-all-costs sort of feelings.

"Hey! If it isn't my favorite god." Tony exclaims and hands Thor the second beer, patting him on the shoulder.

Thor's wearing normal clothes, which Tony admits, looks good on him. A pair of jeans and a long sleeved grey shirt, sneakers, and his hair pulled back.

"Tony Stark. How are you, my friend?" Thor accepts the beer but doesn't open it. Tony takes notice of that. That, and that Thor called him friend.

"I'm great. Couldn't be better."

Tony watches as Thor walks around the garage. He has his hands in his pocket and there's a calculating look in his eye that Tony is not at all familiar with so he asks;

"What about you?"

Thor stops. He's never been any good at lying and so doesn't even try. But that doesn't mean he'll share what's on his mind.

The minutes drag on. For some reason, the longer Thor stands silent the more Tony feels like he should high-tail it out of there.

"I've come to ask you about my brother." He finally says.

Tony visibly flinches at the mention of Loki. He does not want to talk about Loki.

"You're not hear to avenge your brother's chastity or something, right? 'Cause, you know, he came on to me first. And he definitely knew what he was doing. Any delusions you have about your brother being innocent, you really have to let them go. I mean, come on buddy! You were there, you saw what he did. The people he killed! Locking him away is the right thing to do!" Tony wonders who it is he's trying to convince, Thor or himself.

"I know, Son of Stark. My brother needed to be stopped before any more lives were lost." Thor says but the regret in his voice is clear.

Tony sits down on his workbench. The same workbench he stood by when Loki visited him for the last time. "It's a good thing we managed to stop him before that happened."

"Aye, it is."

Tony finishes his beer, throws the can in the garbage. A three pointer!

"Did my brother say anything to you?"

Tony looks up at the god, unsure if he heard him correctly or not. Thor doesn't repeat his question, Tony doesn't ask him to, but he stares at him and Tony leans back in his chair.

"Ah, no. We didn't really talk. I mean, I asked him about his intentions and stuff like that, but he never really answered." Tony says and crosses his arms over his chest. He frowns, "Now that I think about it, he never said anything."

The look on Thor's face changes, but Tony can't tell to what.

"He never said anything to you?"

Tony's still frowning, but says, "Why should he?"

Anger flashes in Thor's eyes. It makes Tony jump, but it passes quickly and then the strange look is back.

"I promised that I would protect him." Thor suddenly says.

"Who? Loki?"

"He is my brother." Thor says and suddenly Tony thinks he knows what that look is telling him.

"Thor, you're not going to do something stupid, are you? Imagine the consequences!"

"Do not worry, friend. No harm will be come to the people this world. I swear it." And with those parting words Thor leaves before Tony has the chance to say or do anything.

He's left alone once again. He has this feeling that maybe he should contact Nick Fury and warn him. But he doesn't. Instead, Tony grabs the beer Thor left and opens it.

"Shame to let it go to waste." He murmurs to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

First of all, I want to thank everyone who reviewed and assured me that this story is, in fact, good. It wasn't my intention to get you guys to review, although, again, it is very much appreciated that some of you took the time to do so. Thank you.

To be honest, I feel really motivated to continue this now and, hopefully, I'll be able to continue. But please don't ask me to write longer chapters. I become stressed and feel pressured and then I just stop. It's happened before. But I promise that I'll try hard not to let that happen to this story.

I'm also really happy about the feedback on my language. I'm not a native English speaker, and even though I have degree in English from my university, I'm very conscious about my language and not very confident in my level of English, especially in writing. So it does me good to hear you guys think it's well written. Thanks.

Now, here's a third chapter for you guys. I thought this was as far as my mind had come, but apparently there's enough for a fourth chapter in the foreseeable near future. There's this moment I want to happen and I'm trying to get there, but stuff (like the stuff in this chapter) keeps happening. I have no control over it.

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**Chapter 3: (Un)Expected Events**

He's done it. Somehow, Thor's managed to sneak onto the Hellicarrier, pass all the security and break into the cell holding his brother, _undetected_. The only evidence there is, is a couple of seconds of security footage were Thor looks directly at the camera before both he and his brother disappear.

He must have had help. And Tony's a prime suspect. However, there's nothing to indicate that Tony' involved and Fury can't hold him on mere suspicion.

The door to the room open and Steve walks in. Tony looks up at the man he admires, something he'll never admit to Steve, and smiles his gratitude when the man hands him a cup of coffee.

They sit in silence until Tony breaks it.

"Do you think I did it?"

Steve looks at the creator of Iron Man. Their eyes lock and the silence stretch uncomfortably around them before Steve speaks.

"No. I don't. But Fury seems to think so."

"Ha! That's because he knows I can get into his systems. I did it before, remember?" He takes a sip of his coffee. It's perfect, just how he likes it. Pepper must be on board. Which means it'll only be a couple of minutes until he'll be able to get out of here. "But someone must have helped him." Tony says and _looks_ at Steve.

It's no secret that Captain America highly disapproves of what they're doing to Loki. Trickery, use of biological weapons, examinations that borders on torture, refusing Thor access to his brother. This is not what he signed up for and it goes against everything he believes in. But he's a soldier and he follows orders, sometimes against his better judgment.

"You think I did? Tony, I don't even know how to make the makrowave work without blowing something up."

"It's 'microwave'." Tony corrects him with a cheeky smile. "But if I didn't do it and neither did you; Clint and Natasha wouldn't have done it even if it meant the end of the world, and Bruce didn't do it, then… what?"

"How do you know it wasn't Bruce? Not that I'm accusing him or anything, but he's been gone now for three weeks." Steve says.

"'Cause I'm keeping tabs on him. Helping him stay under the radar. If it were Bruce, I would know." Tony explains.

Steve looks at him. It's not a secret that Bruce is treading on a very thin line between freedom and imprisonment. All Fury needs is one little indication that Bruce is no longer capable of controlling himself and he'll be locked up.

Steve likes the man. He's smart, Tony-smart even, but he's humble about it. Shy. He feels relieved to know that someone knows where he is.

"What if it wasn't Thor?" Steve says suddenly, the thought having just occurred to him.

Tony looks up at him. He hadn't thought about that.

To say that Thor hadn't been happy about the confinement of his brother would be putting it lightly. The Norse god had refused to work with them any longer. He'd told them that unless his brother is released into his custody, to longer consider him an ally. But he hadn't returned to Asgard. Instead, he'd gone to Jane Forster believing that all they would do to Loki was keep him locked up. That at least he was safe.

Steve fears the consequences should Thor ever find out the truth.

It was logical to assume that Thor had had enough and come for his brother. But could they really be sure it had been him?

Loki was supposedly unconscious. The concoction they'd created was meant to overload the nervous system, rendering him motionless as even the smallest stimuli became too much for his body to bear, resulting in an overload of pain and then unconsciousness. But what if it wasn't working like they thought? What if Loki had a backup plan? Had Tony really been able to fool the God of Lies?

"We might have a problem." Tony admits just before the door to his temporary 'holding-cell' opens and in walks Pepper Potts together with agent Coulson.

"You are free to go now, Mr. Stark." Coulson says.

Pepper doesn't say anything, but the look in her eyes tells Tony that she's probably made a SHIELD agent or two cry. Tony grins. Only the best work for Tony and Pepper is the best of the best.

"What? No apology? I'm hurt."

Coulson smiles that little smile of his. "The accusations were just for show. The director has to please the board. He's looking forward to hearing any ideas you might have. In fact, there's a meeting being held right now."

No one's sure whether to believe him or not, but both Tony and Steve leave the room. Pepper hands Tony his things and follows him, presenting papers for him to sign, ever the opportunist.


End file.
